One of the most popular scriptures in the Bible is found in I Corinthians 13: the hymn of love. When I consider the beautiful words and sentiments found there, I first think, “How did Paul write this?” Let’s be honest; Paul could be blunt. He did not, as they say, “suffer fools gladly.” And yet, here are some of the most beautiful words ever written.
Consider I Corinthians 13:1-3: “If I speak in the tongues [a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Reading this and the rest of the chapter, I have to consider the real possibility that Paul meant exactly what he wrote. Maybe Paul realized that this was the crux of the Christian faith and he should aspire to it even though he sometimes failed.
So, where does that leave us? How do we so often evaluate ourselves? We think in terms of accomplishments and that old favorite, “being right.” Who among us does not feel the excitement of going to war on Facebook and proving that our point of view is the right one? Don’t we love really slamming the other person and showing them to be the fools they are? We have become a society where we not only have to be right, but we condemn those who have the audacity to be wrong. How dare they not see the truth of my argument.
But maybe that is not where we, as Christians, are called to stand. There is nothing wrong with being right, of course. As a matter of fact, I recommend it. Still, do we have to be so harsh to those who disagree with us. Could it be that the God who is love (I John 4:8) and who sent his Son Jesus Christ to tell us to love one another (John 13:34) really means it? When we think of our opponents, do we love them? I would suggest re-reading I Corinthians 13 and, really, the whole New Testament.
